Cilicia - Hellenism and Roman Cilicia

In ancient geography, Cilicia ("Ki-LIK-ya") formed a district on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus (Giaour Dagh), which separated it from Syria. North of Cilicia lie the rugged Taurus Mountains that separate it from the high central plateau of Anatolia, which are pierced by a narrow gorge, called since Antiquity the Cilician Gates. Ancient Cilicia was naturally divided into Cilicia Trachea and Cilicia Pedias ...

Including:

• Cilicia - The Persian Royal Road
• Cilicia - Early history
• Cilicia - Hellenism and Roman Cilicia
• Cilicia - Armenian kingdom
• Cilicia - Ottoman and modern Turkish Cilicia

Read more here: » Cilicia: Encyclopedia - Cilicia

Similarly Alexander found the Gates open, when he came down from the plateau in 333 BC; and from these facts it may be inferred that the great pass was not under direct Persian control, but under that of a vassal power always ready to turn against its suzerain. After Alexander's death it was long a battleground of rival marshals and kings, and for a time fell under Ptolemaic dominion (i.e. Egypt), but finally under that of the Seleucids, who, howe ...

See also:

Cilicia, Cilicia - The Persian Royal Road, Cilicia - Early history, Cilicia - Hellenism and Roman Cilicia, Cilicia - Armenian kingdom, Cilicia - Ottoman and modern Turkish Cilicia

Read more here: » Cilicia: Encyclopedia II - Cilicia - Hellenism and Roman Cilicia

The Cilicians appear as Khilikku in Assyrian inscriptions, and in the early part of the 1st millennium BC were one of the four chief powers of western Asia. It is generally assumed that they had previously been subject to the Syro-Cappadocian empire; but, up to 1909 at all events, Hittite monuments had not been found in Cilicia; and we must infer that the Hittite civilizations which flourished in Cappadocia and northern Syria, communicated with each other by passes east ...

See also:

Cilicia, Cilicia - The Persian Royal Road, Cilicia - Early history, Cilicia - Hellenism and Roman Cilicia, Cilicia - Armenian kingdom, Cilicia - Ottoman and modern Turkish Cilicia

Read more here: » Cilicia: Encyclopedia II - Cilicia - Early history

During the time of the Crusades the area was controlled by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. The Seljuk invasion of Armenia was followed by an exodus of Armenians southwards, and in 1080, Rhupen, a relative of the last king of Ani, founded in the heart of the Cilician Taurus a small principality, which gradually expanded into the kingdom of Lesser Armenia or Armenia Minor. This Christian kingdom situated in the midst of Moslem states, hostile to the Byzantines, giving valuable support to the crusaders, and trading with the great commercial ci ...

See also:

Cilicia, Cilicia - The Persian Royal Road, Cilicia - Early history, Cilicia - Hellenism and Roman Cilicia, Cilicia - Armenian kingdom, Cilicia - Ottoman and modern Turkish Cilicia

Read more here: » Cilicia: Encyclopedia II - Cilicia - Armenian kingdom